Throughline Learning

Don't miss our next webinar in partnership with the folks at edWeb.net! https://lnkd.in/ejcraYDu

Registration is now LIVE for Malika Ali's next webinar with edWeb.net on Wednesday, 4/9 from 4:00-5:00pm. Please help by sharing this information widely. Leading Powerful PLCs: Bridging Gaps by Integrating High-Leverage Instructional Practices with High-Quality Curricula ---> Discover a Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle that empowers educators to refine instruction and support more accessible implementation of rigorous HQIM! The research on the power of PLCs for improving student outcomes and teacher retention is strong, but not every PLC is a powerful PLC. Learn how Throughline Learning's PLC strategies boost teacher effectiveness and student engagement in high quality curriculum. Important Throughline Learning Data Point: "When teachers participate in Throughline Learning Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), their students show statistically significant growth on reading and math scores."? - Results based on comparison with a control group of students in classrooms not participating in Throughline Learning coaching or PLCs "Engaging teachers in PLCs has been associated with increased student learning and better teacher outcomes, including improved job satisfaction, greater self-efficacy, and changes in instructional practices" (Lomos et al., 2011; Vescio et al., 2008; Yoo & Jang, 2022; Zhang et al., 2020). https://lnkd.in/ewUh56uP

The role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a critical position when it comes to PL procurement through contracts and partnerships. Conversation #22 with Caitlin Richard, CFO for Hartford Public Schools explores some complex challenges that district finance leaders face as they plan for scalable and sustainable PL in 2025. #100DistrictConversations. "As anyone currently working in education recognizes, we’re navigating a challenging financial landscape. Our district faced significant cuts after ESSER funds expired and we’re grappling with a major budget deficit. This has forced tough decisions, including reductions in central office staff and professional learning. We're advocating for a more equitable state funding formula, and I've been working with the school board and city members to clearly communicate the urgency of this situation. This isn't just a Hartford problem; it's a systemic issue. Connecticut is one of two states in the country that does not include a factor for special education in the state funding formula, so this issue has been a specific focus area for our advocacy. I'm focusing on narrative and storytelling to raise awareness, working closely with the district’s Superintendent and Communications Director to more clearly articulate the why behind our financial crisis. We're seeing a rise in advocacy for funding and resources, both within the school district and from our community stakeholders, which is encouraging. In the meantime, we're exploring innovative approaches to partnerships and PL supports. We've seen success with full-service community school grants and are leveraging external coaches to support our new Wit and Wisdom curriculum. A key question is how to balance internal and external PL resources. During ESSER, we began developing our administrator pipeline (principals and assistant principals), a strong area of need for professional learning in the district. Due to budget cuts we have had to sunset a lot of this work. Luckily, we retained a lot of the materials from the launch of the programming during ESSER, so we are able to continue some of the work internally. However, additional investments would be needed to make this more robust. Other areas for future investment include the “Welcoming Culture & Nurturing Climate” section of our district’s strategic plan. Here, we envision developing identity-based affinity groups to support staff, strengthening mentorship programs to support and retain new teachers, increasing opportunities for specialization/differentiation of educator roles and responsibilities to reduce burnout, and strengthening pathways for educators to advance into leadership and mentorship roles." Thank you Paula Shannon for making the connection! Connecticut State Department of Education Dr. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez Paula Talty Catherine M. Carbone, Ed.D Deborah A. Gist Andrea Casta?eda Barr Foundation Jessica Rose Nellie Mae Education Foundation Gislaine Ngounou, Ed.L.D.

We stayed local to RI for conversation #21 with two talented WARWICK PUBLIC SCHOOLS leaders, Lisa Schultz, Ph.D. & Patti Cousineau. We covered a lot of ground, digging into their multiple partnerships & challenges with freeing up teachers for professional learning time. #100DistrictConversations "We’re seeing positive results from our focus on student discourse, data-driven instruction, and deep engagement with our high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) across our schools. Our instructional team is exceptionally dedicated. We have two ELA leads and two math leads, with 3 coaches who provide embedded support to our 5 buildings that receive title funds. However, we face significant challenges in delivering consistent and impactful PL. A primary obstacle is the current shortage of substitute teachers. This often requires us to prioritize classroom coverage over dedicated PL time for our teachers or district leaders stepping in to teach so our teachers can be released to learn and grow their practice. We are actively exploring other options to find more teacher PL time in our schedules. Despite challenges, we’re committed to ensuring all members of our district community are supported to achieve their individual potential and encouraged to pursue their passions. A significant portion of our PL comes directly from the vendors who provide our curriculum. Hiring curriculum vendors as PL partners during the first year using a curriculum because it allows our teachers to develop expertise in the resources they are expected to use every day. At this point we are implementing HQIM across all grade levels, in alignment with RI state mandates. We've partnered with vendors for core areas like ELA (Great Minds - Wit and Wisdom; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - Into Literature) and Math (Curriculum Associates - i-Ready, Reveal by McGraw Hill), ensuring our students have access to robust curriculum resources. We're excited about the potential of OpenSciEd for Science and McGraw Hill for Social Studies. We've also expanded our offerings with supplemental apps and strengthened our Social Emotional Learning (SEL) initiatives through collaborations with Thrive Behavioral Health and Bradley Hospital, including a four-part PD series for principals and leaders. Additionally, we’ve used grant funds to support the introduction of Calming Corners for elementary SEL, as well as 3 SEL leads and our Second Step curriculum. Our educators and students also benefit from strong local partnerships with universities and nonprofits. These organizations bring much needed enrichment and small group tutoring to our schools. The University of Rhode Island provides our K-8 Science kits and PL for our science teachers. Our local Boys & Girls Clubs of Warwick has leveraged the state’s #Learn365RI initiative to provide and expand tutoring services to students who need additional time both after school and during school vacations." Lynn Dambruch Rhode Island Department of Education

Celebrating hitting our first milestone with conversation #20 today! So much learning in these #100DistrictConversations! For example, in today's conversation with Myriam Ortiz, Chief of Community Engagement for Boston Public Schools, we learn the power of aligning organization expertise to school need. Myriam and her team have worked tirelessly to support school leaders in finding the right strategic school partnerships, sourcing, vetting and hiring local community orgs for a range of school & student opportunities. "I'm passionate about strengthening our Boston Public Schools (BPS) through meaningful partnerships that empower our students and families. In order to ensure these partnerships are the best quality possible, we needed to first understand who all the current partners were across our district’s 119 schools and how they support our schools. To collect this data, we conducted a comprehensive survey of school partnerships, from mentoring to athletics to before/after-school programming. This landscape analysis helped us launch a Request For Proposal (RFP) process with 15 categories of services and programs. My office both manages funds and supports schools in building strong partnerships with vetted enrichment program providers. The Partnership Fund allocates dollars yearly to a selected group of schools. We use the district’s Opportunity Index (OI) to make the selection of schools. The OI is a tool that helps to identify schools with the greatest need and the team then helps those schools find the right partners to advance their goals. Our work with Boston-area Community Based Organizations (CBOs) is twofold. We work with CBOs to teach them about BPS policies and make sure they’re best able to provide service. We also support and partner with CBOs to develop clear school-facing profiles displayed on our Partner BPS website (partnerbps.org) and address their procurement needs. We've made significant strides in streamlining our processes and systems with over 700 partner programs. By doing this work centrally we are ensuring that our schools feel empowered to make informed choices with accurate technical and programmatic information. That way, they can make the most informed decisions that will best serve their school communities. We're expanding our focus to develop impact data collection and analysis systems to better define what a high-quality partner is? so schools can more strategically engage with partners. The results of this process will also help to ensure alignment with the district's strategic plan, including Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) and relationship-building, and measuring partner and program impact as we go. To continue moving this work forward, we created a strategic vision specifically for the Partnerships Office that aligns with the district's priorities." Mary Skipper Massachusetts Department of Education Claudio Martinez Nellie Mae Education Foundation Barr Foundation Linda Chen, Ed.D. Lesley Ryan Miller

This is my first time at the AASA Annual Conference, #NCE2025 and it has been really impressive. Well facilitated sessions, great setup, expansive vendor floor and some very cool district leaders. Add the NOLA backdrop and it’s all pretty great. Met new friends and reconnected with old friends today. My biggest highlight was getting to meet Throughline Learning board member Davion R. Lewis, PhD in person for the first time. Too bad we forgot to snap a pic Davion! Other highlights included, seeing one of my personal heroes Colin Kaepernick, meeting Amos Fodchuk thanks to Lori Batista McEwen, reconnecting with Deborah A. Gist, talking strategy with Michael Bell, bumping into Richard Culatta unexpectedly in the conference cafe, and getting to hear “My GOAT” Andrea Casta?eda present to a packed house on “the awkwardness of embracing happiness”. Looking out for more friends tomorrow if I can find them! Mario Andrade Jen LoPiccolo Brent Maddin

Excited to post conversation #19 with Michael Nagler from the AASA, The School Superintendents Association conference in New Orleans this morning. Superintendent Nagler has an incredible vision for relevant, competency based learning and the PL structures and routines to support his educators, students and families. #100DistrictConversations "We've embraced a philosophy we call "The Mineola Way," which is rooted in continuous improvement & tailored PD. One of our core beliefs is that teachers should have diverse avenues to access relevant learning. We've moved away from the traditional, one-size-fits-all model & instead offer "Pajama PD" – resources accessible at teachers' own pace and time. We respect their busy lives & understand that learning shouldn't be confined to rigid schedules. And we recognize that PL must be differentiated to diverse roles, from guidance counselors to shop teachers to school nurses. We've implemented "stackables," credit-bearing microcredentials that allow teachers to build expertise in areas they find valuable. For example, instead of a lengthy tech PD session, we offer shorter modules that can be combined for a salary bump. Similarly, our "SNAX" – short experiences of your expertise – empower teachers to learn through asynchronous online articles, videos, blogs, webinars, podcasts, video tutorials & more, & then, to come together to share their learning with colleagues. We've even extended this concept to students, enabling them to teach their peers & earn their own “SNAX”. Our overarching goal is to empower educators to drive their own professional growth, fostering a culture of continuous improvement & innovation. We are committed to the concept of "DEV Leadership”, embracing gradual change guided by a clear vision, where teachers are integral to the design thinking process. We embrace entrepreneurial ideas that we abandon or expand based on what is or isn’t getting us to our desired outcomes for students. For example, the user friendly platform kidOYO Software Engineering, CS Mentoring & AI is where we track educator completion of personalized PL, issuing badges & tracking the stackables completed by each teacher. We're always innovating collaboratively with our educators, exploring innovations like AI in education & encouraging teacher-led book clubs & other self-directed learning experiences. We offer faculty the opportunity to pursue their professional interests in independent studies if they choose. We guide this work by pairing an administrator to each project so that our leaders learn alongside our faculty." If you're here in NOLA at #NCE25 you can attend Michael's session, "Future-Forward Education: Redesigning Learning with AI and Technology" Friday, 3/7 at 2:30pm in room 344. I'm also hosting PL conversations in the coffee shop at the entrance to the convention center. If you're interested in being one of our #100DistrictConversations let me know!

Heading to NOLA for the AASA, The School Superintendents Association Annual Conference, #NCE2025? I’m hoping to have as many #100DistrictConversations in person as possible on Thursday and Friday at the Convention center! If you’re a new or old connection, let me know if you’re in town so we can find a time to sit and chat. If you are a district leader who loves to nerd out on Professional Learning, I’m looking to explore innovative approaches, challenges and barriers, or even big aspirational ideas that you haven’t quite pulled off yet. I want to hear how you’re leading your district’s professional learning strategy. Use the form below to connect at your convenience or DM me directly through LinkedIn. Grab a time! The coffee is on me! Friends! Please pass this along to leaders who are in town and may be interested. Andrea Casta?eda Barbara A. Mullen, Ph.D Davion R. Lewis, PhD Jen LoPiccolo Michael Nagler Mario Andrade Amos Fodchuk Karen (Stephan) Borchert Michael Bell

Love when my #100DistrictConversations allow me the chance to catch up with friends who I haven't talked to in years. Conversation #18 reunited me with Tom Flanagan, Superintendent of Burlington School District. Tom and I met when he was CAO in Providence Public Schools, and I have always appreciated his practical approach to complex and systemic issues. "One of our biggest priorities in Burlington is deeper learning, a strategic focus that extends beyond curriculum and instruction. When planning our professional learning (PL), we recognize the importance of providing an experience for teachers that mirrors what we want to provide for our students; ensuring that our teachers have agency and ownership in their own learning process. We've found that engaging principals and coaches in the design process for PL from the beginning is absolutely key. By having principals at the table during curriculum adoption and PL sessions, they gain a deeper understanding of the materials and the instructional shifts required. We don't have a ton of dedicated PL time, but we're working to maximize the use of our weekly teacher PLCs and strengthen the effectiveness of our Instructional Leadership Teams. While there is no curriculum mandate in our state, we chose to adopt a new ELA curriculum from American Reading Company when I arrived four years ago to address some gaps in phonics instruction and revitalize our overall approach to literacy. We've also focused on making our materials more relevant, place-based, and engaging for our students, incorporating feedback from our teachers and connecting classroom learning to our community and sustainability initiatives. Connecting rigorous curriculum to deeper learning practices requires a common vision and language across our district. In order to get everyone aligned, we've partnered with Leading Educators to develop a comprehensive framework that will guide our instruction. This framework is being co-constructed with a large group of educators and principals. Hiring a PL partner allows us to engage even more voices, including 300+ empathy interviews conducted with district stakeholders to inform the framework. Partners help us push our practice by bringing an external perspective that helps us identify areas for growth and refine our approach, using activities like learning walks for data-driven feedback. Our deeper learning framework will be complete by next school year. At this point our district will likely have the skill and capacity to manage the implementation of the framework internally. We will need a partner who keeps us accountable to the rigorous bar that we want to hold around grade level tasks and instruction. We are a very fortunate district because we can also lean on local Burlington area partners for questions and support." University of Vermont Saint Michael's College Champlain College Chris Maher Heather Tow-Yick Simona Simpson-Thomas Edda Carmadello Cameron Berube Gina Picard #AASA #NCE2025

Are you heading to #NCE2025 next week hosted by AASA, The School Superintendents Association? Executive Director Shawn Rubin is excited to take his #100DistrictConversations on the road to interview district leaders across the country about their approaches to #professionallearning. Fill out the brief form linked here to connect! ??? ??? https://lnkd.in/eSK4aFwZ